


Hallownest and the Vessels

by Schnikeys_Discuss (Schnikeys)



Series: Clockie's Meta [5]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Analysis, Archived from radioactivesupersonic Blog, Character Analysis, Child Abuse, Gen, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27049588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schnikeys/pseuds/Schnikeys_Discuss
Summary: "So I guess I really like writing out Hollow Knight headcanons and meta and with the whole idea that the Vessels… really are kids, but they’ve never really beentreatedlike kids."
Series: Clockie's Meta [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974223
Kudos: 19





	Hallownest and the Vessels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ClockworkRainbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkRainbow/gifts).



So I guess I really like writing out Hollow Knight headcanons and meta and with the whole idea that the Vessels… really are kids, but they’ve never really been _treated_ like kids.

It’s not that I don’t think Hallownest’s bugs meant well. I’m sure a lot of them did. But the vessels, from the start, were meant as a means to an end to stop the plague. The White Lady has no hesitation saying that it doesn’t really matter which vessel found her or for what reasons, that she’d like them to go replace the Pure Knight, and the way she talks about the Pure Knight’s fate suggests that she doesn’t even really see them as a person capable of suffering.

(Jarring, considering the dreamers’ actively speculating that our Knight’s entire motivation may have been reacting to the Pure Knight’s pain)

But this has given me the idea that with all of the vessels- they tend to come across very somber and very reserved, and it can make them seem either elegant (proper youths, of impeccable manners) or really creepy depending on your perspective- but they’re very. well-behaved unless they have a particular motivation to act up (and ‘our’ vessel, the Knight, is a little more angry than average- there’s a reason areas like the Colosseum of Fools speak to them, and why they challenged the Mantis Lords)

But the vessels don’t… really know how to play, much. They don’t really know how to be kids. The most obvious “softness” I think they’d display is, when given the opportunity, they’d probably cling together. The fact that Nosk, lurking in ominous, threatening Deepnest, knows to confront vessels with the image of another vessel would tell us that- and the Lost Kin, when finally purged of their infection, simply nods to the Knight. I just imagine them moving in little chains together, holding hands, or huddling together for warmth, comfort.

But I think of the Knight, this grim little kid who’s full of determination and, to a degree, anger- and I think of them as someone who does have fun sometimes, whether that’s the bouncing mushrooms in the fungal wastes- they like to run, they like open spaces, they like to explore and poke at things- they’re athletic and they know that and they probably have an absolute blast, pun intended, rocketing around with the Crystal Heart sometimes (you can just shoot across the cliff over Dirtmouth all the way from Crystal Peak to King’s Pass like a little tiny comet). 

But if you gave them a toy- like a ball or a kite- I don’t know if they’d really know what to do with it. The whole idea of the Knight being very unsure of how to respond to things that are… simple and innocent and actually _games_. I imagine them being super moved by Mato declaring he thinks of them as his child but not really sure how to properly express or deal with that because parents? They’ve never thought of parents. This is someone who can effortlessly work their way through difficult landscapes and massive, daunting enemies, utterly baffled by the idea of a game of tag. 

And the Pure Knight, really, I don’t know if they’d be much better, even if they’re an “adult”, I imagine there’d be something childlike about them, leaving the egg and coming to the realization that things don’t hurt anymore. That the vessels, categorically, were really deprived of a life outside of their duty.

This was supposed to be cute, turned out very bleak, so in an attempt to capture the spirit of the original intention: imagine, the inhabitants of Dirtmouth having to gather together to teach their gaggle of weird void children how to play. No one gets more into it than Zote does but he will adamantly and fervently deny he is enjoying any of this he’s taking _pity_ on this _simpleton_ who doesn’t know how to _skip rocks_ , obviously.

(this becomes the Pure Knight’s Single Hobby. They probably don’t even skip the rocks they just like to listen to them going “bloop” in the lake.)

**Author's Note:**

> Analysis originally found here: <https://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/post/160468476705/so-i-guess-i-really-like-writing-out-hollow-knight>


End file.
